A day or two afterwards came the eagerly expected letter from the traveller. Chaplin could write better than Annie or her father, and so the letter was quite a long one, or seemed so to the little family who gathered round to hear it read. First he told them he had begun work, and thought he should get on very well. His master was satisfied with him, and to get back to his old trade with regular work and regular wages more than satisfied himself. He never felt so thankful for anything in his life as to get back to the country again, and he hoped to get a place ready for them to come into in the course of a day or two. Annie Brown was looking so well, so rosy and happy at her work of fruit-picking, that he hardly knew her, and she quite failed to recognize him in his smart new suit and the carpenter's basket over his shoulder. It was plain enough that he was proud of being regarded as a carpenter again, and his wife shared his feeling, and told her neighbours how well her husband was getting on down in the country. No one grudged the Chaplins their good fortune, for among the men he had proved himself steady and reliable, and was therefore chosen for the most difficult and delicate work picketing which no man coveted, but which Chaplin was always ready to do, and never known to forsake a post when once he had taken it. Among their more immediate neighbours there was genuine rejoicing, for now Winny would get the chance of growing strong which she had given up to Annie Brown. This action of hers had not met with the unqualified approval of her friends and neighbours. They could not understand the high standard Winny set before her—even that of the Lord Jesus Christ himself, who came to give up his life for those who were ignorant and out of the way, that they might be brought to a knowledge of the love of the Father, thus leaving all who would call themselves his disciples an example that they should follow in his steps. They had thought such a sacrifice as Winny had made was altogether too much for a girl like Annie Brown. If she had been respectable now, they could have understood it, but for a girl who had been to prison, and who felt ashamed to meet her neighbours when she came back, well, it was altogether too much. Now, however, everything had turned out so well for everybody, and Annie had proved to be worthy of the help given to her, why, it was just what might be expected to happen. Some said Annie Brown would stop in the country now she liked it so well, and Letty came and told Brown what had been said. He did not seem to be at all pleased at the suggestion. "I hope my 'little un' won't leave her old dad," he said. "The country is all very well for some people, but I was bred and born in London, and I could never do without its noise and bustle. No, no, my gal must come home to me when the strike is over; I can't do without her much longer." The next letter that came from Annie had almost the same words.